Ed Sheeran Shares First Impression of Taylor Swift + Shenanigans While on Tour With Snow Patrol

“It’s such a pleasure to have people like her in the music industry — she has the talent and is so down to earth, head and shoulders,” Ed Sheeran states about Taylor Swift. Funny — gender aside, that’s exactly how we’d describe him.

The incredibly adorable Rupert Grint look-alike is one of the best singer-songwriters to originate from overseas since, well, Adele. At only 21 years old, the Brit has a penchant for writing songs culled from his own experiences and love, and in addition, a talent for integrating hip-hop riffs and the loop pedal into his work. And did we mention his stellar guitar techniques? If John Mayer doesn’t know about him yet, he will.

In a t-shirt and khakis, Ed sat down for a brief moment to recap his last few weeks. After meeting the Queen and performing at the Diamond Jubilee Concert in her honor — where he also hung out with his “partner-in-crime,” ‘Price Tag’ singer Jessie J and shared the stage with his idol (and hopeful collaborator) Stevie Wonder — he delivered his biggest gig yet, the Summertime Ball held at Wembley stadium. “I think for me as an artist it was a bit too big, for just lil’ old me and the guitar, but it was definitely a wicked experience,” he humbly states.

At this point in time, he was in the U.S. promoting his successful, certified 4x platinum in the U.K., album, ‘+.’ He still had another day of interviews, a ‘TODAY’ show appearance and two New York gigs, one which he needed to do a soundcheck for within the hour. Little did he know at the time that his album would debut at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart the following week.

Sheeran knows how to pack in his time efficiently — in 2009 alone, he performed an astounding 300 gigs. That experience is why he’s as cool as a cucumber when he takes the stage to perform eight-minute songs like ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Give Me Love.’ Of course, being a former guitar technician added to his ability to not only understand the ins-and-outs of touring but learning the techniques he uses today. “I was a guitar technician for my favorite band [Nizlopi] at the time, so I basically got to see my favorite band every night, for free, this close [holding out his hands], and hang out with them and see how they perform and how they react to the crowd. So it was the best education I could have had.” With his tap-taping and rhythmic moves on his smaller-than-normal guitar, it’s no wonder his sold-out audiences are enraptured with him — he learned well, and fast.

He’s also already toured with alternative rock outfit Snow Patrol, and even got himself into a little bit of mischief: “We played in Las Vegas, and Gary [Lightbody] was given, I think, $1,000 dollars in chips for playing a gig, and he he didn’t want to gamble, so he gave it to me, and I gambled … away… $1,000 of Gary’s money,” Sheeran confesses. “I won $1,500 dollars, but then I lost it. The problem is they give out free drinks … You get trigger happy.”

Other great experiences that spawned from the tour? A new track Ed wrote that will appear on his next album, called ‘Photograph.’ “I think it’s great,” he states. “I did that with the Snow Patrol boys.”

Sheeran also gave fellow British boys, One Direction two songs for their new record, which he penned awhile back. “I don’t really do that a whole lot, I think it’s just because I’m friends with them,” he admits.

So what’s going on with him and Taylor Swift, professionally? Well, they’re working on some stuff together, but it’s her project, so he’s staying mum on the details. But he did talk about his first impression of her and “just how cool she was.”

“I’ve never really met acts like [her], ” he adds. “You meet people like Elton [John] who have been in the game for 30-40 years who are wise and old and been it for a long time — and Taylor’s been in it for six years and she’s 22. And you hear horror stories about younger musicians who kind of go a bit off the rails, but she’s so together and so kind of professional and knows what she wants, but at the same isn’t too harsh — she’s just a really sweet gentle person — so yeah, that’s what surprised me, is that she was sound.”

Check out our entire interview with Ed Sheeran below, and be sure to watch him perform acoustically ‘The A-Team,’ just for us.

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